Game director Nick Cantin tells us everything to know about the new mechanic.

Eidos Montreal game director Nick Cantin has been busy in the past few weeks answering questions about the upcoming Thief 4’s Focus System. In fact, the Official Thief Forums themselves are a hive of activity.

He had this to say about the Focus System, which has been described as “Garrett’s ability to focus and speed up his reaction times. From a game design perspective, Focus is a layer that empowers the player and empowers Garrett.

“But, it’s not something that you’re forced to use. It’s something that you manage, something that is one of the tools at Garrett’s disposal that he can use to tackle the various situations he is confronted with.”

He did state that Focus isn’t related to navigation. “We don’t want to kill that exploration by giving the player too much information or too many hints.”

But the system is completely optional. “Presently, it’s completely the players choice to use Focus or not. If players want to challenge themselves to stick to Garrett’s basic abilities, they can.”

Thief 4 will release in 2014 for PC, PS4 and other next gen platforms.